Post by badchoices on Jun 17, 2014 17:33:58 GMT -8

I got to meet Mr. Walker from Firestone Walker Brewery today at Elizabeth Station in Bellingham. Cool dude. They had a mini tap takeover. The beers they were highlighting were too high of ABV for me today but I was lucky enough to try the DBA (double barrel ale) unfiltered. I love the regular DBA so it was quite a treat. I guess the unfiltered version is 100% barrel fermented while the normal version is 20% barrel fermented and then blended. Pretty rad.

Post by badchoices on Jun 23, 2014 14:14:29 GMT -8

Went out to Orcas Island for some camping this weekend and visited Island Hoppin Brewing. They are in Eastsound and have a cool little tasting room. The beers weren't necessarily my favorite but the atmosphere made it well worth the visit. I would say my favorite was their porter. They only do the porter on nitro though so I couldn't fill my growler with that one. Ended up going with the pale.

Post by badchoices on Jul 15, 2014 12:17:54 GMT -8

I picked up the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 12 pack the other day. If you see this in the store I highly recommend it. Sierra Nevada has two brewing facilities now. They teamed up with 12 breweries for collaboration beers and half were brewed in Chico and the other half over at their east coast facility. Some interesting/creative brews in this beast:

Post by davers on Aug 15, 2014 7:55:11 GMT -8

Parallel 49 is pretty much the best. Go to their tasting room. It has a great social atmosphere, they usually play good music, there is almost always a good food truck outside, they have around 15 beers on tap and a glass is $3. If I lived closer I'd go there ever week.

Also if you do that visit Powell St Brewing down the street. They are super small and don't have a licence yet, so you can only have one beer, but they make some fantastic beer. If you ask nicely they'll give you samples of the other ones for free too.

Post by badchoices on Aug 28, 2014 13:26:47 GMT -8

Made a trek out to Yakima/Sunnyside yesterday. Visited Snipes Mountain Brewery and Bale Breaker Brewery. Snipes Mountain was interesting. They were telling us that they have been open for 17 years. The current head brewer has been doing it for the last 4 years. He said that it is owned by some fruit distribution company and their son was a homebrewer way back and wanted to open a brewery. So they made the brewery and restaurant. It has never been profitable largely due to the ever changing head brewer position. This guy seems legit and wants to turn it into a profitable venture. His beer was really good, too. My favorites were their session IPA and dark English mild. He seems to have it going in the right direction. The food was bleh but whatevs.

Bale Breaker is a relatively new brewery. It is situated in a hop field that used to be called field 41. Their flagship is Field 41 Pale (even carried at Safeco). They clearly have a lot of money put into this place. If you are a hophead this is the place for you. Even their blonde was hoppy. All of their beers were good though. Successful trip over there until we were surprised by rock blasting over the pass. Fuck that, 1 hour delay just sitting there.

Post by badchoices on Sept 29, 2014 8:21:54 GMT -8

Philadelphia is a wonderful beer city if you ever get out there. Visited two different breweries over the weekend (Yards Brewing and Dock Street Brewing) and many beercentric bars. There are a lot of smaller breweries in the area and I tried so many incredible beers. Some of my favorites were:

Post by Cysquatch on Feb 5, 2015 18:52:17 GMT -8

I heard this thread is getting neglected.

As of summer my new favorite local brewery became Tamarack. They started out in Lake Side, but now have a location in Missoula. The only thing I see canned is the Amber and IPA. If you have a chance to stop by one of their breweries they have a great selection. One of my favorites is the Sip And Go Naked Apricot Ale.

I used to really like amber ale, but have grown away from it the last few years. There just seems to be so many better options out there anymore. That had changed after I tried Yardsale. If I am looking to grab something at the local grocery store it is now my go to.

Edit: Funny, I looked back in this thread and noticed I already posted about this same beer and how I didn't care for amber anymore. I guess I warmed up to it.

Post by badchoices on Feb 10, 2015 16:54:05 GMT -8

I am hoping to make it to Total Fest this summer. If I do I will definitely be checking out that brewery.

Also, you Washington craft beer fans should check out Hop Mob. It is the triple IPA roadshow for Washington breweries. We went last Friday to the kickoff event and it damn near destroyed me. All of the beers are supposed to be at least 100IBUs and 10% ABV. A couple didn't quite get up there but still close. The first and last events have all 32 beers on tap at the same time. The events between have some of the beers on tap but not all of them. My favorite was from Standard Brewing.

Post by badchoices on Feb 17, 2015 15:05:00 GMT -8

That is good to know!

Tonight I am going to a Pelican brewer's night in Bellingham. A few years ago we visited that brewery and it was fantastic top to bottom. I'm hoping to see some limited or special releases at the event tonight. We get the cream, IPA, silverspot IPA and stout frequently in town.

Post by Professor Pancakes on Feb 25, 2015 21:28:39 GMT -8

Had to go to Richland tonight for an all day training tomorrow. Went to the Atomic Ale brewpub and had the Atomic Amber and Half-Life Hefe, both were excellent, and some good pizza too. I don't recommend going to the tri-cities ever if you can help it, but if you're ever sentenced to a night there, I recommend checking them out.